Ownership Of Land (Joint)

[dancecaller]

I know there is a difference between Joint ownership and 'Jointly & Severally'.
What happens if 2 sisters own land together and one has children. Would the whole field be inherited by the other, would there be inheritance tax to pay, and who would pay it, the sister or the children.
Thinking for the future here.

[Buenchico]

Property (including land) can be owned by two people together as either 'beneficial joint tenants' or as 'tenants in common'.

Where there is beneficial joint tenancy neither person owns a specific share of the land. It is their legal 'partnership' that owns the property and, upon the death of one person, the other person automatically acquires the title to the whole of the property. (It is completely irrelevant as to whether the deceased person had children or not, or as to the contents of any will. They can't bequeath what they, as an individual, never owned in the first place. The property has to go to the surviving person in the partnership).

If the two sisters were tenants in common then each of them would own a share of the land (which would, of course, be a half of it unless specified otherwise). Upon their death the terms of their will would determine who their share of the land would go to. If they died intestate the intestacy rules would apply.

This verifies my information about the two types of ownership:
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-18

To see who inherits under the intestacy rules, refer to this flow chart:
http://www.makeawill.co.uk/clients/c4ca4238a0b923820dcc509a6f75849b/laws-of-intestacy.jpg

Inheritance Tax is paid upon the estate as a whole, not upon any specific part of it, and is paid directly from the estate before distribution of the residue rather than by any individual. It only applies when the value of the estate is over £325,000 and doesn't apply to property which is passed automatically to the surviving partner of a beneficial joint tenancy. Start here for further information about Inheritance Tax:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/intro/basics.htm

[Peter Pedant]

The estate pays IHT - and having a jointure doesnt excuse - or else I suppose we would all have one.

It seems to be quite common for people to think 'oh yes that bit of the estate isnt subject to IHT'- but it always is. [ the big exception is gifting stuff to people and then living seven years ]

The jointly owned land passes to the other joint owner no matter what the will says. However - one lucky owner can end convert the joint ownership to common ownership ("sever the jointure") by writing a letter to this effect to the other owners. There is only one document that cannot sever a jointure - can you guess what that is ? Yes - a will.

so if you are the sister with kids and you want the land to go to your kids rather than your sister this is what you do.

If the 'jointly' owned land is inherited, that is the land has been left to them, it is almost certain on inquiry that you will find it is in fact held as tenants in common anyway.

and finally - if they inherited before 1925 yes if they are about 120 y old each, then sisters had their own joint ownership called co-parceny. but as you can imagine no one knows about that any more.